51st European Go Congress, 10 round

EGC, Villach

Park Jong Wook came back!

1 Laatikainen Vesa FI 5D - HONG SEOK UI KR 7D - W+R
2 Dinershteyn Alexander RU 8D - PARK JONG WOOK KR 7D - W+11.5
3 Burzo Cornel RO 6D - Cho Seok-bin KR 7D - W+5.5
4 Hong Seul-Ki KR 7D - Pop Cristian Gabriel RO 7D
5 Li Ting CN 6D - Shikshin Ilya RU 6D
6 Balogh Pal HU 6D - Danek Vladimir CZ 5D
7 Kai Naoyuki JP 6D - Schnider Gert AT 5D
8 Mero Csaba HU 6D - Grzeschniok Anton DE 3D
9 Corlan Lucian RO 5D - Silt Ondrej CZ 6D
10 Papazoglou Benjamin FR 5D - Yoshida Takao JP 6D

Whole results of 10th round

Top final tournament table
Pl. Name Str Cl. MMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pt SOS SOSOS

1 HONG, SEOK UI 7d KR 33 12+ 5+ 102+ 22+ -2 27+ 3+ 23+ 7+ 10+ 9 300 267
2 PARK, JONG WOOK 7d KR 33 14+ 25+ 26+ 13+ 1+ 6+ 4+ -- -- 5+ 8 292 244
3 Cho, Seok-bin 7d KR 32 43+ 16+ 10+ 4+ -6 5+ -1 9+ 18+ 12+ 8 304 240
4 Shikshin, Ilya 6d RU 31 34+ 11+ 21+ -3 33+ 9+ -2 -5 14+ 7+ 7 303 207
5 Dinershteyn, Alexander 7d RU 31 36+ -1 48+ 8+ 21+ -3 42+ 4+ 17+ -2 7 303 205
6 Hong, Seul-Ki 7d KR 31 -15 55+ 24+ 43+ 3+ -2 -7 73+ 13+ 8+ 7 298 205
7 Li, Ting 6d CN 30 28+ -22 42+ 14+ -19 30+ 6+ 8+ -1 -4 6 300 177
8 Pop, Cristian Gabriel 7d RO 30 -21 41+ 16+ -5 43+ 13+ 12+ -7 9+ -6 6 298 177
9 Balogh, Pal 6d HU 30 23+ 15+ -22 75+ 28+ -4 11+ -3 -8 21+ 6 297 175
10 Laatikainen, Vesa 5d FI 30 17+ 44+ -3 -20 -13 86+ 27+ 32+ 23+ -1 6 297 172
11 Silt, Ondrej 6d CZ 30 30+ -4 15+ -19 16+ 50+ -9 -17 59+ 31+ 6 295 174
12 Burzo, Cornel 6d RO 30 -1 98+ -23 69+ 15+ 22+ -8 42+ 21+ -3 6 295 171
13 Yan, Haitao 5d CN 30 52+ 61+ 44+ -2 10+ -8 43+ 31+ -6 26+ 7 294 200
14 Kai, Naoyuki 6d JP 30 -2 78+ 25+ -7 -27 54+ 29+ 28+ -4 24+ 6 294 171
15 Mero, Csaba 6d HU 30 6+ -9 -11 17+ -12 79+ 67+ -18 53+ 35+ 6 293 173
16 schuetze, bernd 4d DE 30 24+ -3 -8 68+ -11 51+ 33+ -21 37+ 30+ 6 293 172
17 Soldan, Leszek 5d PL 30 -10 -19 94+ -15 56+ 47+ 25+ 11+ -5 27+ 6 292 171
18 Papazoglou, Benjamin 5d FR 30 -26 111+ -19 110+ -32 53+ 22+ 15+ -3 23+ 6 290 170
19 JUNG, DA WON 7d KR 30 71+ 17+ 18+ 11+ 7+ -- -- -- -- -- 5 263 148
20 Park, Seok-Bin 7d ? 30 53+ 34+ 46+ 10+ 22+ -- -- -- -- -- 5 259 144
21 Danek, Vladimir 5d CZ 29 8+ 46+ -4 26+ -5 32+ -23 16+ -12 -9 5 297 146
22 Siivola, Matti 5d FI 29 61+ 7+ 9+ -1 -20 -12 -18 -51 72+ 57+ 5 295 144
23 yoshida, takao 6d JP 29 -9 84+ 12+ -28 45+ 29+ 21+ -1 -10 -18 5 295 143
24 Schnider, Gert 5d AT 29 -16 45+ -6 -29 64+ 35+ -31 25+ 51+ -14 5 291 142
25-26 Radmacher, Bernd 4d DE 29 29+ -2 -14 -45 80+ 26+ -17 -24 67+ 51+ 5 291 141
25-26 Tormanen, Antti 4d FI 29 18+ 38+ -2 -21 -41 -25 156+ 47+ 42+ -13 5 291 141
27 Giedrojc, Krzysztof 4d PL 29 57+ -29 82+ 102+ 14+ -1 -10 55+ 43+ -17 6 290 168
28 Kulkov, Andrey 6d RU 29 -7 51+ 29+ 23+ -9 -42 30+ -14 -31 48+ 5 290 143
29 Marigo, Francesco 4d IT 29 -25 27+ -28 24+ 49+ -23 -14 -59 90+ 52+ 5 286 141
30 Pocsai, Rita 4d HU 29 -11 -48 122+ 70+ 44+ -7 -28 45+ 54+ -16 5 285 138

Whole table of main tournamnet

The champion of Europe became Ilya Shikshin, 6d, Russia! The most young champion in history of europe championship! Big success of young master.

51st European Go Congress, 9 round

photos by Martin Chrz

1 HONG SEOK UI KR 7D - Li Ting CN 6D - B+3.5
2 Papazoglou Benjamin FR 5D - Cho Seok-bin KR 7D - W+R
3 Dinerstein Alexander RU 8D - Soldan Leszek PL 5D - B+13.5
4 Yan Haitao CN 5D - Hong Seul-Ki KR 7D
5 Pop Cristian Gabriel RO 7D - Balogh Pal HU 6D
6 Danek Vladimir CZ 5D - Burzo Cornel RO 6D
7 Kai Naoyuki JP 6D - Shiskhin Ilya RU 6D
8 yoshida takao JP 6D - Laatikainen Vesa FI 5D
9 Corlan Lucian RO 5D - Kulkov Andrej RU 6D
10 Mero Csaba HU 6D - Fujita Izumi JP 5D
11 Silt Ondrej CZ 6D - Barthel Floris NL 3D

Whole results of 9th round

Top tournament table after 9th round
Pl. Name Str Cl. MMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pt SOS SOSOS
1 HONG, SEOK UI 7d KR 32 10+ 4+ 88+ 31+ -2 24+ 3+ 16+ 7+ 8 267 235
2 PARK, JONG WOOK 7d KR 32 19+ 34+ 23+ 14+ 1+ 8+ 5+ -- -- 7 255 207
3 Cho, Seok-bin 7d KR 31 35+ 17+ 9+ 5+ -8 4+ -1 15+ 21+ 7 268 206
4 Dinershteyn, Alexander 7d RU 31 48+ -1 40+ 6+ 13+ -3 32+ 5+ 22+ 7 265 202
5 Shikshin, Ilya 6d RU 30 42+ 18+ 13+ -3 30+ 15+ -2 -4 19+ 6 266? 172?
6-7 Pop, Cristian Gabriel 7d RO 30 -13 29+ 17+ -4 35+ 14+ 10+ -7 15+ 6 264 174
6-7 Li, Ting 6d CN 30 33+ -31 32+ 19+ -11 26+ 8+ 6+ -1 6 264 174
8 Hong, Seul-Ki 7d KR 30 -20 69+ 25+ 35+ 3+ -2 -7 60+ 14+ 6 262? 171?
9 Laatikainen, Vesa 5d FI 30 22+ 38+ -3 -12 -14 75+ 24+ 39+ 16+ 6 260 170
10 Burzo, Cornel 6d RO 30 -1 118+ -16 55+ 20+ 31+ -6 32+ 13+ 6 259 168
11 JUNG, DA WON 7d KR 30 57+ 22+ 21+ 18+ 7+ -- -- -- -- 5 237 145
12 Park, Seok-Bin 7d ? 30 46+ 42+ 41+ 9+ 31+ -- -- -- -- 5 234 142
13 Danek, Vladimir 5d CZ 29 6+ 41+ -5 23+ -4 39+ -16 17+ -10 5 264 144
14 Yan, Haitao 5d CN 29 43+ 80+ 38+ -2 9+ -6 35+ 27+ -8 6 262 170
15 Balogh, Pal 6d HU 29 16+ 20+ -31 58+ 33+ -5 18+ -3 -6 5 262 143
16 yoshida, takao 6d JP 29 -15 59+ 10+ -33 36+ 37+ 13+ -1 -9 5 261? 142?
17 schuetze, bernd 4d DE 29 25+ -3 -6 54+ -18 44+ 30+ -13 49+ 5 260? 141?
18 Silt, Ondrej 6d CZ 29 26+ -5 20+ -11 17+ 70+ -15 -22 53+ 5 260 142
19 Kai, Naoyuki 6d JP 29 -2 105+ 34+ -7 -24 45+ 37+ 33+ -5 5 259 138
20 Mero, Csaba 6d HU 29 8+ -15 -18 22+ -10 106+ 61+ -21 46+ 5 257? 140?
21 Papazoglou, Benjamin 5d FR 29 -23 95+ -11 94+ -39 46+ 31+ 20+ -3 5 257 139
22 Soldan, Leszek 5d PL 29 -9 -11 117+ -20 71+ 67+ 34+ 18+ -4 5 257 137
23 Tormanen, Antti 4d FI 29 21+ 50+ -2 -13 -29 -34 102+ 67+ 32+ 5 256? 138?
24 Giedrojc, Krzysztof 4d PL 29 47+ -37 83+ 88+ 19+ -1 -9 69+ 35+ 6 256 166
25 Schnider, Gert 5d AT 29 -17 36+ -8 -37 76+ 28+ -27 34+ 44+ 5 256 140
26 Pocsai, Rita 4d HU 29 -18 -40 108+ 56+ 38+ -7 -33 36+ 45+ 5 253 138
27 Corlan, Lucian 5d RO 29 -38 -88 71+ 100+ -32 68+ 25+ -14 33+ 5 249? 137?
28 Grzeschniok, Anton 3d DE 29 70+ -67 138+ 108+ 105+ -25 106+ 30+ 39+ 7 243? 187?
29 Fincke, Jonas 4d DE 29 205+ -6 78+ 40+ 23+ -- -- -- -- 4 230 108
30 Kazuo, Yoshihara 5d JP 28? -- 77+ 42+ 41+ -5 40+ -17 -28 71+ 5 249 138

3D Go of Laurin's (Werner Bäumler)

51st European Go Congress, 8 round

Cabíkova cepicka (Czech Team) in Team Tournament

Info from http://www.usgo.org
Jong Wook Park 7d’s iron grip on the lead for the 2007 European Go Congress Championship was broken Thursday when he fell ill and missed Round 8, giving Seok Ui Hong 7d a chance to erase Park’s 1-point lead. Park was a perfect 7-0 while Hong, 6-1, had only lost to Park and defeated 5-game winner Yoshida Takao 6d in Round 8, improving his score to 7, just half a point behind Park’s 7.5, giving him a clear shot at winning the tournament with two more victories. Park, who is expected to remain hospitalized for the remainder of the 10-round tournament, will get half a point for each missed round.

1. Hong Seok Ui KR 7D - Yoshida Takao JP 6D - B+R
2. Balogh Pal HU 6D - Cho Seok-bin KR 7D - W+5.5
3. Dinerstein Alexander RU 8D - Shikshin Ilya RU 6D - B+9.5
4. Pop Cristian Gabriel RO 7D - Li Ting CN 6D
5. Kaper Erik NL 4D - Hong Seul-Ki KR 7D
6. Kaitschick Stefan DE 4D - Burzo Cornel RO 6D
7. Kulkov Andrej RU 6D - Kai Naoyuki JP 6D
8. Papazoglou Benjamin FR 5D - Mero Csaba HU 6D
9. Soldan Leszek PL 5D - Silt Ondrej CZ 6D
10. Yan Haitao CN 5D - Corlan Lucian RO 5D

Whole results of 8th round

Top table tournament after 8th round
Pl. Name Str Cl. MMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pt SOS SOSOS
1 HONG, SEOK UI 7d KR 31 14+ 4+ 90+ 39+ -2 27+ 3+ 10+ 7 230 199
2 PARK, JONG WOOK 7d KR 31 15+ 40+ 26+ 13+ 1+ 8+ 7+ -- 7 226 202
3 Cho, Seok-bin 7d KR 30 25+ 24+ 12+ 7+ -8 4+ -1 11+ 6 233 173
4 Dinershteyn, Alexander 7d RU 30 52+ -1 46+ 6+ 9+ -3 20+ 7+ 6 230 169
5 Li, Ting 6d CN 30 21+ -39 20+ 15+ -18 30+ 8+ 6+ 6 227 171
6 Pop, Cristian Gabriel 7d RO 29 -9 38+ 24+ -4 25+ 13+ 14+ -5 5 231 142
7 Shikshin, Ilya 6d RU 29 48+ 22+ 9+ -3 50+ 11+ -2 -4 5 231 140
8 Hong, Seul-Ki 7d KR 29 -23 51+ 29+ 25+ 3+ -2 -5 70+ 5 229 140
9 Danek, Vladimir 5d CZ 29 6+ 44+ -7 26+ -4 28+ -10 24+ 5 228 140
10 yoshida, takao 6d JP 29 -11 60+ 14+ -21 43+ 41+ 9+ -1 5 227 139
11 Balogh, Pal 6d HU 29 10+ 23+ -39 71+ 21+ -7 22+ -3 5 226 140
12 Laatikainen, Vesa 5d FI 29 17+ 42+ -3 -19 -13 82+ 27+ 28+ 5 226 138
13 Yan, Haitao 5d CN 29 49+ 80+ 42+ -2 12+ -6 25+ 31+ 6 225 165
14-15 Burzo, Cornel 6d RO 29 -1 97+ -10 64+ 23+ 39+ -6 20+ 5 225 136
14-15 Kai, Naoyuki 6d JP 29 -2 74+ 40+ -5 -27 35+ 41+ 21+ 5 225 136
16 Papazoglou, Benjamin 5d FR 29 -26 104+ -18 103+ -28 33+ 39+ 23+ 5 220 135
17 Soldan, Leszek 5d PL 29 -12 -18 121+ -23 56+ 45+ 40+ 22+ 5 220 134
18 JUNG, DA WON 7d KR 29 67+ 17+ 16+ 22+ 5+ -- -- -- 5 212 143
19 Park, Seok-Bin 7d ? 29 33+ 48+ 44+ 12+ 39+ -- -- -- 5 207 138
20 Kaitschick, Stefan 4d DE 28 45+ 28+ -5 32+ 31+ 21+ -4 -14 5 228 139
21 Kulkov, Andrey 6d RU 28 -5 32+ 41+ 10+ -11 -20 30+ -15 4 228 112
22 Silt, Ondrej 6d CZ 28 30+ -7 23+ -18 24+ 55+ -11 -17 4 227 111
23 Mero, Csaba 6d HU 28 8+ -11 -22 17+ -14 75+ 72+ -16 4 226 111
24 schuetze, bernd 4d DE 28 29+ -3 -6 63+ -22 32+ 50+ -9 4 226 110
25 Verhagen, Rudi 5d NL 28 -3 47+ 91+ -8 -6 42+ -13 46+ 4 224 107
26 Tormanen, Antti 4d FI 28 16+ 54+ -2 -9 -38 -40 158+ 45+ 4 223 108
27 Giedrojc, Krzysztof 4d PL 28 57+ -41 93+ 90+ 15+ -1 -12 51+ 5 222 135
28 Sannes, Pal 4d NO 28 -44 -20 53+ 74+ 16+ -9 43+ -12 4 222 109
29 Schnider, Gert 5d AT 28 -24 43+ -8 -41 81+ 34+ -31 40+ 4 220 108
30 Pocsai, Rita 4d HU 28 -22 -46 87+ 66+ 42+ -5 -21 43+ 4 220 107

Kobayashi Chizu, 5 professional dan

photos by Martin Chrz

51st European Go Congress, unknown koreans.

The tournament is not yet finished, but we can already say, what the winner will be Korean. This time Korean delegation is extremely strong. Few Koreans played the first week only, so we have only 4 Koreans (Park Jongwook, Hong Seokui, Cho Seokbin and Hong Seulki) in the main part of the tournament table. At least they cannot occupy first five places :)

Hong Seulki, 7-dan, who was the winner of the EGC in S.Petersburg made his road slightly harder by losing the game in the 7th round to Chinese girl Li Ting. He was leading a lot, but decided to kill her big group. Finally they made a big ko fight in the center and Li Ting, 6-dan won it, because she had more ko threats. She was very lucky! For taking the prize place Hong Seulki must beat some top Europeans, such as Cristian Pop, Ilya Shikshin, Pal Balogh and maybe others. Only lucky Europeans will avoid such a dangerous and angry opponent.

The pairing of the next round is not yet decided, but it may look like
Park Jongwook vs Yoshida Takao
Hong Seokui vs Li Ting
Cho Seokbin vs Lucian Corlan
Shikshin Ilya vs Cristian Pop
Alexander Dinerchtein vs Pal Balogh

The games on boards 4 and 5 are most important for deciding the European Champion, but it’s hard to say, will the organizers broadcast these games on IGS or not.

Few words about Korean players, who has 7-0 and 6-1 score:

Park Jongwook.
Former 1-st class insei of Hankuk Kiwon
Main achievement: Korean Chegoichon-2005 , 3rd place.
Few years ago in EGC in Prague he showed extremely good results by beating all of top European players. Unfortunately he did not get the first place that time, even with 9-1 score, because he did not started from the Supergroup. During the last few years he entered lot of quarterfinals of Korean amateur tournaments, but was often losing to top Korean amateurs. He lost several important games to Woo Dongha (Korean representative at WAGC-2007).


Hong Seokui.
Learned Go at the age of 7. He visited the ordinary Go school for beginners for few years. He lived in Chonchu city and was not able to enter the largest Seoul's Go clubs or attend Hankuk Kiwon inseis league. Later he learned Go from books and from real games. Nowadays he is often playing Go on Tygem server. He plays Go very fast and his favorite players are Cho Hunhyun, 9-dan and Yoo Changhyuk, 9-dan. Hong won several important Korean amateur tournaments, including Lee Changho cup-2002, Samsung cup-2005, Yahoo Game cup-2005 (after beating Hwang Inseong, 7-dan, who is very famous in Europe, in the final round). After winning the Samsung cup he got the right to represent Korean amateurs at the qualification stage of the Samsung World Go Championship. He met Mizokami Tomochika, 8-dan in the first round and lost that game.


In the main round of the European Go Championship Park won his game against Hong Seokui by 3.5 points. Few days later they met each other during the deciding game of the Week-end tournament. Hong took the revenge by 2.5 points.

This time we will present you the only game, lost by Park Jongwook during the EGC in Prague in 2005. We got this commentary from the collection of commented games on Go4Go. It was very exciting! Maybe his future opponents will study this game record and find the way of beating him. I will do it too!

More than 10 commented games from the Main tournament were uploaded to
http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/alex/

Alexander Dinerstein

51st European Go Congress, 13x13

The 13x13 Tournament Winner - Bronislav Snidal, CZE

Top table tournament 13x13
Pl. Name Str Cl. MMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pt SOS SOSOS
1 Snidal, Bronislav 1d CZ 5 19+ 21+ 31+ 7+ 3+ -4 5 22 17
2 Kruml, Ondra 2d CZ 5 27+ -6 21+ 16+ 10+ 7+ 5 21 17
3 Butala, Gregor 4d SI 5 49+ 16+ 8+ 5+ -1 22+ 5 21 16
4 Toermaenen, Antti 4d FI 5 -- 11+ 13+ 6+ 20+ 1+ 5 20 20
5 Cheburakhov, Andrey 5d RU 5 43+ 42+ 15+ -3 17+ 9+ 5 19 14
6 Bogdanov, Viktor 5d RU 4 18+ 2+ 20+ -4 -22 24+ 4 22 14
7 Surma, Mateusz 1d PL 4 38+ 29+ 10+ -1 18+ -2 4 22 12
8 Bro-Joergensen, Ulrik 4d DK 4 26+ 9+ -3 -24 23+ 15+ 4 21 13
9 Jasiek, Robert 5d DE 4 23+ -8 47+ 12+ 15+ -5 4 21 12
10 Kaper, Erik 4d NL 4 50+ 39+ -7 30+ -2 19+ 4 19 10
11 Lewerenz, Bernd 2d DE 4 34+ -4 -12 36+ 30+ 18+ 4 18 9
12 Tatsushi, Akiya 3d JP 4 -30 50+ 11+ -9 28+ 20+ 4 17 11
13 Giedrojc, Krysztof 4d PL 4 -- 24+ -4 21+ 29+ 16+ 4 16 11
14 Savolainen, Javier 2d FI 4 -- 36+ 22+ -15 25+ 17+ 4 14 11
15 Drost, Andreas 4d NL 3 25+ 17+ -5 14+ -9 -8 3 23 10
16 Mulder, Hans 1k NL 3 52+ -3 43+ -2 38+ -13 3 21 7
17 Boyen, Kris 10k BE 3 free -15 19+ 23+ -5 -14 3 20 8
18-19 Terwey, Matthias 3d DE 3 -6 28+ 26+ 31+ -7 -11 3 19 7
18-19 Jerkovic, Jure 1k SI 3 -1 27+ -17 34+ 35+ -10 3 19 7
20 Bensen, Paul 4k US 3 32+ 33+ -6 29+ -4 -12 3 19 6
21 Podbiol, Krzysztof 5k PL 3 41+ -1 -2 -13 free 44+ 3 18 4
22 Lajunen, Pekka 1d FI 3 -- 46+ -14 26+ 6+ -3 3 17 8
23 Trippel, Lorenz 1d CH 3 -9 37+ 42+ -17 -8 33+ 3 17 6
24 Mattila, Ilka 1d FI 3 -- -13 44+ 8+ 31+ -6 3 15 7
25-26 Sakashita, Satoshi 2k JP 3 -15 41+ -40 37+ -14 32+ 3 15 5
25-26 Sadova, Daria 11k RU 3 -8 49+ -18 -22 36+ 37+ 3 15 5
27 Williams, Russ 4k US 3 -2 -19 -28 46+ 49+ 30+ 3 14 4
28 Pulitz, Hubertus 3k DE 2 -48 -18 27+ 33+ -12 -29 2 17 5
29 Teles-Menezes, Jose 5k PT 2 47+ -7 34+ -20 -13 -28 2 17 4
30 Mourik, Henk 2k NL 2 12+ -- 45+ -10 -11 -27 2 16 5

Whole table of tournament 13x13

51st European Go Congress, 7 round

1. Shikshin Ilya 6d RU - PARK JONG WOOK 7d KR - W+R
2. Cho Seok-bin 7d KR - HONG SEOK UI 7d KR - W+6.5
3. Kaitschick Stefan 4d DE - Dinershteyn Alexander 8d RU - W+R
4. Li Ting 6d CN - Hong Seul-Ki 7d KR
5. Burzo Cornel 6d RO - Pop Cristian Gabriel 7d RO
6. Silt Ondrej 6d CZ - Balogh Pal 6d HU
7. yoshida takao 6d JP - Danek Vladimir 5d CZ
8. Marigo Francesco 4d IT - Kai Naoyuki 6d JP
9. Pocsai Rita 4d HU - Kulkov Andrey 6d RU
10. Mero Csaba 6d HU - Tautorat Guido 4d DE

Whole results of 7th round

Top tournament table after 7th round
pos name c r MM R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 pt SOS SODOS
1 PARK JONG WOOK KR 7D 31 16+ 28+ 33+ 18+ 2+ 11+ 4+ 7 197 197
2 HONG SEOK UI KR 7D 30 17+ 5+ 86+ 27+ 1- 35+ 3+ 6 196 165
3 Сho Seok-bin KR 7D 29 34+ 19+ 20+ 4+ 11- 5+ 2- 5 199 141
4 Shikshin Ilya RU 6D 29 61+ 15+ 10+ 3- 32+ 6+ 1- 5 198 138
5 Dinershteyn Alexander RU 8D 29 68+ 2- 39+ 7+ 10+ 3- 12+ 5 197 138
6 Balogh Pal HU 6D 29 9+ 23+ 27- 73+ 13+ 4- 15+ 5 195 139
7 Pop Cristian Gabriel RO 7D 29 10- 40+ 19+ 5- 34+ 18+ 17+ 5 195 138
8 Li Ting CN 6D 29 13+ 27- 12+ 16+ 14- 36+ 11+ 5 194 139
9 yoshida takao JP 6D 29 6- 44+ 17+ 13- 31+ 29+ 10+ 5 194 137
10 Danek Vladimir CZ 5D 28 7+ 41+ 4- 33+ 5- 22+ 9- 4 198 111
11 Hong Seul-Ki KR 7D 28 23- 48+ 30+ 34+ 3+ 1- 8- 4 198 110
12 Kaitschick Stefan DE 4D 28 37+ 22+ 8- 38+ 26+ 13+ 5- 5 196 138
13 Kulkov Andrey RU 6D 28 8- 38+ 29+ 9+ 6- 12- 36+ 4 196 110
14 JUNG DA WON KR 8D 28 63+ 24+ 25+ 15+ 8+ -- -- 5 195 139
15 Silt Ondrej CZ 6D 28 36+ 4- 23+ 14- 19+ 62+ 6- 4 195 109
16 Kai Naoyuki JP 6D 28 1- 53+ 28+ 8- 35- 47+ 29+ 4 194 107
17 Burzo Cornel RO 6D 28 2- 115+ 9- 55+ 23+ 27+ 7- 4 194 106
18 Yan Haitao CN 5D 28 42+ 92+ 51+ 1- 20+ 7- 34+ 5 193 133
19 schuetze bernd DE 4D 28 30+ 3- 7- 54+ 15- 38+ 32+ 4 193 107
20 Laatikainen Vesa FI 5D 28 24+ 51+ 3- 21- 18- 70+ 35+ 4 192 107
21 Park Seok-Bin KR 8D 28 45+ 61+ 41+ 20+ 27+ -- -- 5 191 135
22 Sannes Pal NO 4D 28 41- 12- 43+ 53+ 25+ 10- 31+ 4 191 108
23 Mero Csaba HU 6D 28 11+ 6- 15- 24+ 17- 58+ 133+ 4 191 106
24 Soldan Leszek PL 5D 28 20- 14- 99+ 23- 59+ 37+ 28+ 4 189 105
25 Papazoglou Benjamin FR 5D 28 33- 91+ 14- 88+ 22- 45+ 27+ 4 187 104
26 Corlan Lucian RO 5D 28 51- 86- 59+ 87+ 12- 52+ 30+ 4 183 104
27 Siivola Matti FI 5D 27 92+ 8+ 6+ 2- 21- 17- 25- 3 197 83
28 Radmacher Bernd DE 4D 27 29+ 1- 16- 31- 77+ 33+ 24- 3 194 80
29 Marigo Francesco IT 4D 27 28- 35+ 13- 30+ 52+ 9- 16- 3 192 80
30 Schnider Gert AT 5D 27 19- 31+ 11- 29- 78+ 46+ 26- 3 191 80

51st European Go Congress, 6 round

Park Jong Wook 7d Korea, the leader of the main tournament

1. Hong Seul-Ki(b) 7d KR - Park Jong Wook 7d KR - W+R
2. Cho Seok-bin(b) 7d KR - Alexander Dinerstein 8d RU - B+R
3. Giedrojc Krzysztof(b) 4d PL - Hong Seok Ui 7d KR - W+R
4. Balogh Pal 6d HU - Shikshin Ilya 6d RU
5. Pop Cristian Gabriel 7d RO - Yan Haitao 5d CN
6. Burzo Cornel 6d RO - Siivola Matti 5d FI
7. Kulkov Andrey 6d RU - Kaitschick Stefan 4d DE
8. Li Ting 6d CN - Pocsai Rita 4d HU
9. akiya tatsushi 3d JP - Silt Ondrej 6d HU
10. yoshida takao 6d JP - Marigo Francesco 4d IT
11. Danek Vladimir 5d CZ - Sannes Pal 4d NO
12. Spiegel Lothar 3d AT - Kai Naoyuki 6d JP
13. Parkola Michal 2d PL - Mero Csaba 6d HU

The whole results of 6th round

Top table after 6 rounds
1 PARK, JONG WOOK 7d KR 30 20+ 24+ 37+ 26+ 4+ 5+ 6 164 164
2 Cho, Seok-bin 7d KR 29 25+ 21+ 22+ 3+ -5 6+ 5 166 138
3 Shikshin, Ilya 6d RU 29 72+ 10+ 11+ -2 35+ 9+ 5 165 136
4 HONG, SEOK UI 7d KR 29 14+ 6+ 73+ 19+ -1 32+ 5 165 135
5 Hong, Seul-Ki 7d KR 28 -18 57+ 27+ 25+ 2+ -1 4 166 109
6 Dinershteyn, Alexander 7d RU 28 76+ -4 41+ 8+ 11+ -2 4 165 107
7 Li, Ting 6d CN 28 17+ -19 13+ 20+ -15 31+ 4 164 109
8-9 Pop, Cristian Gabriel 7d RO 28 -11 36+ 21+ -6 25+ 26+ 4 164 108
8-9 Balogh, Pal 6d HU 28 12+ 18+ -19 67+ 17+ -3 4 164 108
10-11 Silt, Ondrej 6d CZ 28 31+ -3 18+ -15 21+ 54+ 4 164 107
10-11 Danek, Vladimir 5d CZ 28 8+ 39+ -3 37+ -6 28+ 4 164 107
12 yoshida, takao 6d JP 28 -9 45+ 14+ -17 29+ 23+ 4 163 108
13 Kaitschick, Stefan 4d DE 28 43+ 28+ -7 44+ 34+ 17+ 5 161 133
14 Burzo, Cornel 6d RO 28 -4 125+ -12 49+ 18+ 19+ 4 161 104
15 JUNG, DA WON 7d KR 28 56+ 30+ 33+ 10+ 7+ -- 5 159 136
16 Park, Seok-Bin 7d ? 28 46+ 72+ 39+ 22+ 19+ -- 5 154 131
17-18 Kulkov, Andrey 6d RU 27 -7 44+ 23+ 12+ -9 -13 3 165 81
17-18 Mero, Csaba 6d HU 27 5+ -9 -10 30+ -14 58+ 3 165 81
19 Siivola, Matti 5d FI 27 118+ 7+ 9+ -4 -16 -14 3 165 80
20-21 Kai, Naoyuki 6d JP 27 -1 42+ 24+ -7 -32 59+ 3 164 79
20-21 schuetze, bernd 4d DE 27 27+ -2 -8 55+ -10 44+ 3 164 79
22 Laatikainen, Vesa 5d FI 27 30+ 38+ -2 -16 -26 60+ 3 163 79
23 Marigo, Francesco 4d IT 27 -24 32+ -17 27+ 40+ -12 3 162 80
24 Radmacher, Bernd 4d DE 27 23+ -1 -20 -29 91+ 37+ 3 162 78
25 Verhagen, Rudi 5d NL 27 -2 40+ 74+ -5 -8 38+ 3 162 77
26 Yan, Haitao 5d CN 27 50+ 118+ 38+ -1 22+ -8 4 161 103
27-28 Schnider, Gert 5d AT 27 -21 29+ -5 -23 62+ 47+ 3 161 79
27-28 Sannes, Pal 4d NO 27 -39 -13 48+ 42+ 33+ -11 3 161 79
29 Sodeoka, Tadanori 6d JP 27 52+ -27 75+ 24+ -12 39+ 4 159 104
30 Soldan, Leszek 5d PL 27 -22 -15 88+ -18 51+ 43+ 3 159 77

The best from european players - Ilya Shiskhin 6d from Russia with 5 points.

Kobayashi Chizu on Go, Fashion, Bach & Shusaku photo by Martin Chrz

“Modern fuseki is like modern women’s fashions,” the impeccably-dressed Kobayashi Chizu told the E-Journal Saturday morning. “Anything goes, so there’s no limits and any style is acceptable. But without basic knowledge, there’s no heart.”

Kobayashi, a 5 dan professional at the Nihon Kiin, was a finalist in the Female Honinbo three straight years from 1976 to 1978 and Women's Kakusei 1989. Since March of this year has been on a 1-year teaching assignment in Vienna, Austria for the Nihon Kiin. “With the Internet, new joseki and fuseki speed around the world, but too many are just imitating and don’t really understand the theory. It’s a strange combination.”

Koyashi always has a crowd around her after each round at the European Go Championships as she reviews games. “Many people like to study but few like to practice,” she notes. “If you only have 30 minutes a day to study, then practice tsumego and tesuji to learn patterns, and memorize the first 50 moves of classic Japanese go games. They’re the easiest to understand, as far as go theory. For me, Shusaku is like Bach. Just as though there’s not a wasted note in Bach’s music, there’s nothing special about Shusaku’s game, but he’s winning.”

The team of organization of Eueropen Go Conress working very tense to organize this beautiful holiday so some of them fall with legs :-)
photos by Martin Chrz

51st European Go Congress, Weekend Tournament

Seok-ui Hong 7d (KR) won the 2-day 5-round European Go Congress weekend tournament

366 participants.
Did not take part the best european playes due to European Masters Tournament.

The top table tournament look like the main table. :-)
1 HONG, SEOK UI 7d KR 24 23+ 5+ 13+ 3+ 2+ 5 111
2 PARK, JONG WOOK 7d KR 23 7+ 6+ 4+ 17+ -1 4 112
3 Cho, Seok-bin 7d KR 23 8+ 11+ 12+ -1 20+ 4 111

Weekend tournament table

Five-game winners included Ondra Kruml 2d (CZ), Yorrick Traxler, a young 2-kyu from Vienna, two young female players, Lena Gauthier 4k (DE) and Diana Blaszczyk 5k (PL), Remi Henache 5k (FR), Giardano d'Obici 5k (IT), Roland Lezuo 6k (AT), Kris Boyen, 10k (BE), Peter Harold-Berry 14k (UK).

In the second half of main tournament the key point is: will be able withstand the top russian players Alexander Dinerstein 8d and Ilya Shikshin 6d to koreans amateurs.

51st European Go Congress, European Masters Tournament

1 round
1. Cornel Burzo(b) 6d RO - Alexander Dinerstein 8d RU - W+R
2. Andrej Kulkov(b) 6d RU - Cristian Pop 7d RO - W+R
3. Ilya Shiksin(b) 6d RU - Mero Csaba 6d HU - B+R

2 round
1. Alexander Dinerstein(b) 8d RU - Pal Balogh 6d HU - B+R
2. Cristian Pop(b) RO 7d - Ilya Shiksin 6d RU - W+R
3. Ondrej Silt(b) 6d CZ - Cornel Burzo 6d RO - B+R

3 round
1. Alexander Dinerstein(b) 8d RU - Ilya Shikshin 6d RU - B+R
2. Mero Csaba(b) 6d HU - Pal Balogh 6d HU - B+5.5
3. Onrej Silt(b) 6d CZ - Cristian Pop 7d RO - W+R

Alexander Dinerstein won European Masters Tournament!

photos by Martin Chrz

The complete results:
1. Alexandre Dinerchtein 8d
2. Ilya Shiksin 6d
3-4. Cristian Pop 7d/Csaba Mero 6d
5-6. Pal Balogh 6d/Ondrej Silt 6d
7-8. Cornel Burzo 6d/Kulkov Andrej 6d

“I was behind on territory,” Dinerchtein told the EJ right after the match, “but I had a thick position and I was able to get some compensation for the thickness.” Dinerchtein revealed that Shiksin, “who normally has an attacking style,” has changed his style recently “and is now playing for territory. If he used his attacking style, I don’t know what would happen, but I am confident about handling the territorial style, so his current style is good for me.”

Since there’s currently no sponsor for the Masters, there were no cash prizes for the winners, but each player got $150 euro playing fee.

51st European Go Congress, 5 round

Ondrej Kruml 2d CZE - the 13x13 Tournament Runner-up

Main tournament:
1. Cho Seok-bin(b) 7d Korea - Hong Seul-Ki 7d Korea - W+7.5
2. Park Jong Wook(b) 7d Korea - Hong Seok Ui 7d Korea - B+2.5
3. Alexandre Dinershteyn(b) 8d Russia - Danek Vladimir 5d CZ - B+R
4. Li Ting(b) 6d China - Jung Da Won 8d Korea - W+R

Fotos from Pair Go and tournament 13x13
http://ortenix.cz/foto.php?folder=lide/go/2007/07_congr_wen

Cornel Burzo vs Mero Csaba

51st European Go Congress, 4 round

1 board
Ilya Shiksin(b) 6d Russia - Cho Seok-bin 7d Korea - W+R

2 board
Ui HongSeok(b) 7d Korea - Matti Siivola 5d FI - B+R

3 board
Jong Wook Park(b) 7d Korea - Haitao Yan 5d China - B+R

The leaders of main tournament(4 points) :
Cho, Seok-bin 7d Korea
Park, Jong Wook 7d Korea
Hong, Seok Ui 7d Korea

51st European Go Congress, Alexander Dinerstein report after 2 days

Dear friends, we are glad to present you the special issue of the Goama newsletter, covering the first two rounds of the European Go Congress in Villach, Austria.

This time the organization looks excellent. We play in the Congress Center in the central of the city. It’s a modern building with big playing rooms, air-conditioner, clean toilets, internet access and other features. The organizers surprised me by allowing the top masters to play with slate and shell stones on thick and quality gobans. Together with large time control ( 2 and half hours for top players) the tournament looks like a Professional World Go Championship – Fujitsu or LG cup. Also they broadcast the games online like in real pro tournament.

The atmosphere is excellent. I did not notice any conflicts. It was possible to create one in my game from the second round, but I decided to be a gentleman. My opponent - Hong Seokui, 7-dan from Korea switched off the clocks immediately after filling all dames. He did not say pass and did not give me the chance to say pass too. Was it possible to invite the referee and tell him that my opponent resigned the game by switching off the clocks? Finally I lost this game by 4.5 points.

Alexander Dinerchtein(7d) - HongSeokui(7d) - W+4.5

First 2 rounds bring some sensations. Mero Csaba, 6-dan from Hungary beat Hong Seulgi, 7-dan, who was the winner of the European Go Congress in S-Petersburg few years ago. Mero was slightly behind, if my calculations were correct, but the situation changed a lot after few strange furikawaris. Vladimir Danek, 6-dan won the game against Cristian Pop, who is one of the main candidates for the European Champion title. He got all territory on the board and successfully destroyed Black’s moyo Andrew Kulkov, 6-dan who won the 3rd prize last year was crushed by Li Ting – young Chinese woman. Is she so strong? Maybe, but why did she lose her second game to Matti Siivola, who is only 4-dan according to the European rating? Matti played the Kobayashi opening, got the early lead on territory and keep it till the end of the game, even after making some endgame mistakes.

Not all strong Koreans were allowed to take part in the supergroup (top MacMahon bar). Some of them started from the second group and they are winning all of their games. We can see that the system is strange. Some Europeans, who play in the supergroup are 2-3 stones weaker than Korean 6-7 dans, who were blocked from the supergroup, because of "Eight Asians only limitation".

You may observe the games from the first 3 boards daily on IGS, expect Wednesdays. On the week-end they will probably broadcast the games from the European Masters tournament.

Video-analiz by Alexander Dinerstien of his second game
Part 1

Length: 6 minutes and 33 seconds

Part 2

Length: 7 minutes and 53 seconds

41st Wangwi(Oi, Throne)

5th game
In the decisive game Lee Changho, Wangwi, playing white defeted Yun Junsang, Kuksu by resignation and defended his last title.

Yun Junsang (Kuksu) - Lee Changho(Wangwi) - W+R

Lee Changho, Wangwi, 32 years old.
2007 year - 49 games, 29 wins, 20 losts, 20 place.
2006 year - 84 games, 60 wins, 24 losts, 5 place.

51st European Go Congress, 3 round

Board 1
Black: Laatikainen Vesa, (4d), (FI) - White: Cho Seok-bin, (7d), (Korea) W+R
Kobayashi Chizu 5P watches

Board 2
Black: Ui Hong-Seok , (7d), (Korea) - White: Kampwart Ad, (4d), (NL) B+R

Board 3
Black: Jong Wook Park, (7d), (Korea) - White: Antii Tormanen, (4d), (FI) B+R

Some another fotos
http://ortenix.cz/foto.php?folder=lide/go/2007/07_congr_mon

Video from congress
http://eurogotv.com/index.php?menu=Home&log=trefwoordzoeken

4th Electron-Land Cup

In 3rd game Kang Dongyun, 5 dan, playing black defeted Lee Changho, 9 dan by resignation. And took first national title in his career.

Kang Dongyun(5p) - Lee Changho(9p) - B+R

Prize for 1st place - 45 mln won ~ ($49,000)
Second place - 18 mln won ~ ($19,000)

Kang Dongyun, 5 dan, 18 years old.
52 games in 2007 year, 37 wins, 17 losts, 7 place.
69 games in 2006 year, 50 wins, 19 losts, 12 place.

51st European Go Congress, 2 round

Board 1
Black: Seok-bin Cho, (7d), (Korea) - White: Bernd Schuetze, (4d), (DE) B+R

Board 2
B:Alexander Dinershtein, (1p), (Russia) - W:Seok Ui Hong, (7d), (Korea) W+4.5

Board 3
B: Bernd Radmacher, (4d), (DE) - W:Jong Wook Park, (7d), (Korea) W+R

Some fotos from congress:
http://ortenix.cz/foto.php?folder=lide/go/2007/07_congr_sun

Short impression 2 day

51st European Go Congress

July 14 - 28, Villach, Austria

The two-week long European Go Congress takes place in a different european country every year.

In 2007, Austria has the honour of holding the Congress in Villach.
We are expecting Go players from Europe, Japan, Korea, China, USA, South Africa and other countries, of widely different strengths - from 30 kyu to 9 dan professional.

Apart from numerous Go events there will be cultural and sports events.

The main event will be open to everyone, including complete beginners and non-Europeans.

The flexible tournament system (MacMahon) enables all participants to play in as few or many of the ten rounds as they wish.

At the same time, the main tournament is also the European Go Championship; the best European will become European Champion, a title currently held by Svetlana Shikshina from Russia.

The region around Villach — the Carinthian lake district in Austria's most southern province — unites all the advantages of both mediterranean and alpine climates in a unique harmony.

The lake closest to Villach — Lake Ossiacher See — has a water temperature of 26° Celsius (79° Fahrenheit) in summer and, like all lakes in the region, offers drinking water quality. Villach, with its spa Warmbad is a health resort 500m above sea level, and the whole region is a protected area.

Moreover, Villach has a history of 900 years and is the cultural center of southern Austria.

The city is a hub of major traffic routes and therefore very easy to reach. Apart from numerous hiking trails, castles, ruins and excellent gastronomy the region caters to all other touristic interests as well.

Go events

1. The main tournament
2. The European Masters Tournament
3. The weekend tournament
4. Plenty of side go tournaments: random-pairing-rengo-variant, Rapid Go, 9 x 9, 13 x 13
5. The EGF Annual General Meeting
6. For our shogi friends: shogi workshop
7. Juggling competition

Prizes

Money prizes for top 10 of Open European Championship
1. € 3.000
2. € 1.800
3. € 1.000
4. € 900
5. € 800
6. € 700
7. € 600
8. € 500
9. € 400
10. € 300
=====================
sum € 10.000

Bonus for top 5 EGF members
(nationality must be one of the EGF member countries)
(cumulative!)
1. € 1.600
2. € 1.300
3. € 1.000
4. € 700
5. € 400
====================
sum € 5.000

Any other prizes will be non-cash prizes
Prizes for European Masters (Weekend) will be awarded by EGF.
Any other tournaments just non-cash-prizes.

http://egc2007.goverband.at

1st day


Go-report with Alexander Dinerchtein 1p, day 1 at the 51th European Go Congress Villach 2007. Every day this Go Congress Alexander Dinerstein, Breakfast at KGS will give us great lessons!

Round 1

Board 1
Rudi Verhagen(right), (5a) - Seok-bin Cho, (7a) - W+R

Board 2
Andrey Cheburakhov(right), (5d) - Alexander Dinershtein, (1p) - W+R

Board 3
Hong-Seok(right), (7d) - Cornel Burzo, (6d) - B+R

2007 Korean Baduk League, Paek Hongsuk (5d) (Team Ulsan Dearche) - Park Seungcheol (5d) (Team GS KIXX)

This is one more example of manego. The Mirror Go, one player plays each move at a point that "mirrors" his opponent's previous move. Usually, the "mirror" is a 180-degree rotation about the tengen.

The theory behind Mirror Go is that a move that mirrors the opponent's move can't be worse off. Also, the player who mirrors the moves can abort the mirroring process when his opponent makes a bad move, giving him an advantage.

Usually the manego will finished when one player take the tengen. But even after that the mirror can continue.

This is example in game between Paek Hongsuk(5d), black, (Team Ulsan Dearche) and Park Seungcheol(5d), white, (Team GS KIXX) from 2007 Korean Baduk League.

We can see, in that game white successfully used this strategy. One interesting moment in this game, that score in match between these teams was 2:2. That game was impotant, Park Seungcheol, 5 dan, selected mirror statery and won the game.

Paek Hongsuk, (Team Ulsan Dearche)(5p) - Park Seungcheol, (Team GS KIXX)(5p) - W+R

River cruise Moscow –S.Petersburg

Go boat trips are holding in Russia since 1991. Alexey Vasilev, the first president of Russian Go Federation, invented this idea and organized them. These tournaments were really popular and gathered together more than 100 players every time, including top Europeans such as Matthew Macfadyen, Hans Pietsch, Vladimir Danek and others. We also invited Asian professionals to play and teach Go during the trips. Cho Hunhyun, Lee Changho, Ma Xiaochun, Hashimoto Suji, Chun Poongjho and other famous masters visited our tournaments.

Unfortunately, Alexey Vasilev passed away in the middle of 90's and the tournaments stopped. He was an outstanding organizer and it was very hard to replace him. Recently the Russian Go Federation decided to continue the tradition and few days ago we organized a new tournament on the Russian rivers from Moscow to S-Petersburg. We hold two tournaments during the 5-days long trip: Russian cup and European Pair Go Championship. I took part in both tournaments and decided to describe them in our magazine.

Russian cup
I bet that you never saw such an unusual tournament. 33 players from 42 were dan-level holders, including eight masters of 6-dan and stronger and seven 5-dans. Even the European Go Championship is usually not much stronger. All top Russian players took part in the competition, excluding Ilya Shikshin ("roln111" on KGS), who was passing the university entering exams and Rustam Sahabutdinov, 6-dan ("Am" on KGS), who was one of the organizers. Also, some foreign masters were presented on the boat, including Lee Hyuk, 7-dan (European Ranking number 6).

I thought that Lee Hyuk, 7-dan will be the most dangerous opponent and my feelings were correct. We were both undefeated before the last round and of course, we played on the first board during the last one. We regularly meet each other since 1999. I cannot remember the total score, but it must be around 5 wins – 5 loses or so. Lee Hyuk, 7-dan never won Korean amateur tournaments, but he regularly played for the university team and was even invited to play for the Korean student team in the beginning of 90's. Nowadays he lives in Russia, speaks Russian well and has a business here. It seems, that he has not enough time for studying Go, so he did not get any advantage by playing black stones in fuseki. Kim Seungryung, 9-dan was right! He said that it's easier to play as White, if you are not prepared for the game. If you play as Black, you have to play active modern fashions, trying to compensate the big komi. You saw our game in the last issue of the Goama magazine.

Today you can review the game I played with Alexey Lazarev, 6-dan, 2-times European champion and 11-times Russian champion. This time he got the 3rd place. It seems that he has no time or desire to study modern fashions, so I tricked him easily by using new Chinese joseki. This variation was explained by me in one of the KGS Plus lectures. It's rather complicated, and it's hard to find the best plan during the real game. After the game Alexey told me that he never saw it before. The European Go Championship is coming soon, so it was probably better to keep it in secret :)

European Pair Go Championship
Our pair with Natalia Skobeleva, who was about 15-20 kyu before the tournament, was not able to fight for prizes – it was clear from the beginning. We were the weakest pair, according to the shared rating. Finally we won 2 games from 5 and everyone called it a big success. She was playing better and better with the each round! Even if we did not compete for prizes, I saw another pairs and their games and can write my impressions. Russian pairs were much stronger! Dmitrij Surin, 6-dan and Natalia Kovaleva, 4-dan pair was officially the strongest one and they were the current Russian Pair Go champion. But even such a strong pair had some problems in that tournament. Finally they won 5 games from 5, but the last game against Artem Dugin, 5-dan and Aigul Nureeva, 2-dan pair was very dangerous for them. They won it because of luck. The pair who got the second place – Victor Bogdanov, 5-dan and Elvina Kalsberg, 2-dan was also close to the victory. Unfortunately, Elvina was not able to play in full power, because of two young daughters, who were traveling together with her. I rarely saw her thinking deeply about the current position – she was mainly solving daughter’s problems. It was not my first pairgo tournament.

I played few pair cups during the past European Go Congresses, but that time the girl was much stronger and we competed for prize places. This time I got even bigger pleasure from my games, although we lost first three of them. I never thought, that pairgo can be so attractive! It's especially interesting to play, if the pairs have big difference between male and female players! We missed snapback, ladder, geta, some cutting points … Some blunders were punished, others are not. The opposite pairs also made funny mistakes and it were a big pleasure for us to take such presents :)

I hope, it was not the last pairgo tournament, I played!

Alexey Lazarev(6a) - Alexander Dinerchtein(1p) - W+R
Lee Hyuk(7a) - Alexander Dinerchtein(1p) - W+R

Alexander Dinerchtein

20th Fujitsu Cup

Final. Tokyo.

In the final of 20th Fujitsu Cup Park Yeonghun, 9 dan, playing white defeted Lee Changho, 9 dan, by 1.5 poins and took the championship. This is third international title in his career.

Lee Changho(9p) - Park Yeonghun(9p) - W+1.5

Game for 3-4 place:
Cho U(9p) - Yoda Norimoto(9p) - W+3.5

20th Fujitsu Cup

Semifinal. Tokyo.


Yoda Norimoto(9p) - Park Yeonghun(9p) - W+0.5


Lee Changho(9p) - Cho U(9p) - B+R


The final will take place at June 9

Korean Ambassador's Cup in Kiev, Ukraine

19 from 20 best Ukrainians (according to the local rating list) took part in the competition, but they were not able to win it. They allow few Russian players to take part in the tournament and together with Ilya Shikhin ("roln111" on KGS) we got the first and second places, without losing a single game to Ukrainian masters.

106 players took part in the Ambassador’s Cup in Kiev and it was the biggest event in the history of Ukrainian Go. LG was the official sponsor and they announced some attractive prizes for top 8 players of the final standing. Also they paid travel expenses and hotel fees for players outside of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

Most of the players were not able to play for top prizes, because of the Mac-Mahon system, but even double digit kyu players competed for prizes for best under 12 and under 18 juniors, best female, best veteran. Also they gave prizes for everyone, who scored 4, 5 or 6 wins.

Much more players decided to take part in the competition, but the organizers accepted only 53 pairs, because the playing hall was not big enough. We played in LG Studio in the center of Kiev. They use it for holding the free classes such as photography, cooking, psychology and others courses for everyone, who buy electronic or other items, produced by LG company. I would like to wish the LG company to sell more and more TVs, DVDs, video sets and other things, so it will be necessary to make the studio larger. So, next time (the ambassador promised to make the tournament regular) they can accept more than 106 players.

Here you can see the list of the winners.
1. Alexander Dinerchtein, 1-dan pro (Russia) 6 from 6
2. Ilya Shikshin, 6-dan (Russia), 5 from 6
3. Dmytro Bogatskij, 6-dan (Ukraine), 4 from 6
4. Arkadij Bogatskij, 5-dan (Ukraine), 4 from 6
5. Dmytro Galchenko, 5-dan (Ukraine) 4 from 6

This time the results were quite normal. 7-dans beat 6-dans, 6-dans defeated 5-dans, 5-dans defeated 4-dans and only in the middle of the tournament table we can meet some sensations. They were mainly showed by the players, who are regularly playing Go on the internet. The organizers did not allow them to enter the tournament with the current Go servers ranks, forcing them to use the official Ukrainian or European ratings. So, we can see some kyu players, who crushed even 4-dans!

Nowadays there are so many possibilities to play Go on the internet. I noticed that experienced KGS or Cyberoro players showed much better results, than people, who study Go only by reading books. It's a good tradition.

I reviewed some games played by dan and top kyu players and was surprised that most of them don't know new fuseki/joseki patterns at all. For example, some of low level dan players never saw the 2nd line keima answer to keima kakari to hoshi. "How to answer it?", they asked. I suggested them to review recent pro games on Go4Go. We can find so many new plans, which were not explained in Ishida's "Dictionary of basic josekis". It's strange to see, that people still trust this book, which was written more than 30 years ago.

It was a great tournament! Nice organization, good prizes, free banquets and lot of other positive things. Maybe next time they can make the tournament "more international" and invite some European masters?

P.S. Commented games from the tournament will be published soon on http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/alex/

Alexander Dinerchtein